Stub-holder for check-books.



No. 679,503. Patented July 30, I90L W. H. HAWKINS.

STUB HOLDER FOR CHECK BOOKS.

(Application filed Nov. 26, 1900.)

(No Model.)

UNIrIEn STATES I ATENT OFFICE.

\VILLIAM ll. HAIVKINS, OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS.

STUB-HOLDER FOR CHECK-BOOKS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 679,503, (la-ted July 30, 1901. Application filed November 26,1900. Serial No. 37,781- (No model.)

To all 1071 0772, it may concern:

Be itknown that I, WILLIAM H. HAwKINs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, haveinventedanew and useful Stub-Holder for Check-Books, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in stub-holders in which a spring fastened to the book-cover operates upon the stubs to hold them in position when the checks which form the rest of the leaf are removed therefrom; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to provide a stuh-holder that is attached to the book-cover without clamps, bolts, or other metallic appliances, and, second, to adapt the spring for producing in respect to the number of stubs it is required to hold in position uniform or nearly uniform pressure thereon. I attain these objects by the mechanism illus trated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a plan View of the stub-holder attached to the checkbook. Fig. 2 is an end View of Fig. 1, showing spring holding stubs in position. Fig. 3 is an end view showing position of spring when not in use. Fig. 4 is an end view of the stub-holder, showing by dotted lines the freer vertical play given the spring when its ends are turned upward. Fig. 5 is a plan View of the spring. Fig. 6 is a plan View of the reverse side of the spring-holder 0, Fig. 1. It is made of cardboard and has webbing attachment.

Similarletters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

The stub-holder A is formed of the spring 13, carrying the metallic binder 25, and the cardboard O, carrying webbinga (See Figs. 1, 5, and 6.) The spring 13 is made of a single piece of steel wire. It is nearly square in shape, excepting that its ends I) h and parts 9 g form right angles, the ends I) b being bent outward and parallel with each other, Figs. 1 and 5. In the side 6 of the cardboard O in the part carrying the webbing a the grooves c c are formed. At the inner ends of the grooves c c the holes d d are formed. The object of the webbing a is to prevent the cardboard 0 being worn or otherwise in jured in the grooves c o by the spring B.

The stub-holder A, Fig. 1, is formed by uniting the spring B with the cardboard O. This is done by passing the ends Z) I) through the holes d d from the side 6 of the cardboard and toward its edge f far enough to cause its parts g g to drop into the grooves c 0, Figs. 5 and 6. When the cardboard G has received the spring B in the manner previously stated, the metallic binder t is fastened to the ends I) b to hold them in their required position, Fig. 1. The binder t is formed of a narrow strip of thin sheet metal of sufficient length to enable its ends being respectively bent around and made fast to the ends of the spring. It prevents the hand coming in contact with a sharp-pointed end of the spring. It holds the ends in their proper position relative to the remaining members of the spring and prevents lateral play of the members of the spring retained in the grooves in the cardboard. I am aware that its use may be dispensed with by the intertwining of the extremities of the ends of the spring B, so as to fasten them together. I prefer to use the binder I, however, because of its greater compactness and neatness of appearance and for theimportant reason that its flexibility renders manipulation of the ends of the spring easier than is that of ends brought together and intertwined, as above set forth.

The stub-holder A is fastened to the inside of the book-cover D by means of a coating of glue applied to the side 6 of the cardboard C. When thus fastened, the ends I) Z) of the spring B bear outwardly upon the upper side h of the cardboard O, and the pressure imparted to the spring by reason of the hearing given the ends b 6 upon the cardboard 0 causes the part 3 to bear upon the book-cover D, Figs. 1 and 3. The spring 13 being adjusted in and upon the cardboard C, so that it is actuated throughout when the part 8 is raised, as shown by the dotted lines in Fig. 4-, its pressure upon the stubs m 'm, from which checks p p p p 19 have previously been removed, is uniformly preserved and its greater upward strain in the grooves c c prevented by the slight upward bending from time to time as the number of stubs increases of one or both of the ends I) b, which, however, at all times bear directly upon the upper surface of the cardboard O to a greater or less degree, as shown in Figs. 2 and 4. I consider this an important feature of my invention, first, because I am able by adjusting the ends of the spring in the manner previously stated to use in a book containing a large number of stubs a stiffer spring held in place by the cardboard than could otherwise be operated unless fastened to the cover by means of metallic appliances much more cumbersome and expensive, and, second, for the reason that if properly adjusted in the manner previously stated no bending of the spring in its other parts is required, as the ends I) b will at all times bear upon the cardboard with sufficient firmness to insure the downward pressure required of the part 3, the effectiveness of the spring in all its parts being at the same time preserved.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A stub-holder constructed from springwire comprising an open frame one border of which is free for engaging stubs, frame extremities opposite said stub-engaging border extending in parallelism laterally from said frame, bent-in portions of said frame connecting said extremities therewith, means for attaching the frame to a book-cover consisting of a paper or like board having surface grooves to receive said bent-in portions of the frame, and perforations at the adjoining endsbf said grooves through which said frame extremities pass to the surface of said board and on which they are vertically adjustable, said board being cemented to the cover of the stub-containing book, thereby firmly uniting said frame and cover, substantially as described.

2. A stub-holder constructed from springwire comprising anopen frame one border of which is free for engaging stubs, frame extremities opposite said stub-engaging border extending in parallelism laterally from said frame, bent-in portions connecting said extremities therewith, means for attaching the frame to a book-cover consisting of paper or like board having surface grooves to receive said bent-in portions of the frame, and perforations at the adjoining ends of said grooves through which said frame extremities pass to the surface of said board and on which they are vertically adjustable, and means for uniting said frame extremities, said board being cemented to the cover of the stub-containing book, thereby firmly uniting said frame and cover, substantially as described.

3. A device substantially as specified for the purposes described consisting of a stubcontaining book, a stub-holder constructed from spring-wire comprising an open frame, a stub-engaging border of the frame, borders extending laterally from the stub-engaging border, frame extremities opposite the stubengaging' border extending in parallelism laterally from the frame, parts of the frame connecting the borders extending laterally from the stub-engaging border with the frame extremities, means securing the parts connecting the borders extending laterally from the stub-en gaging border with the frame extremities to the stub-containing book, said frame extremities being bent up and means uniting them, substantially as set forth.

WILLIAM H. HAWKINS.

Witnesses:

CHARLES H. BEOKWITH, Rosa M. QUIGLEY. 

